


Love Is The Seventh Wave

by flowerfan



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Danny deserves better, Finally catching a break, First Kiss, Fluff, Getting Together, M/M, Post-Episode: s10e14 I Ho'olulu Ho'ohulei 'Ia E Ka Makani, rewrite of 10.14
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-05
Updated: 2020-09-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:54:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26302255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flowerfan/pseuds/flowerfan
Summary: Danny meets a woman in a bar, and it turns out to be his lucky day - but not for the reason you might think.  A re-write of 10x14.
Relationships: Steve McGarrett/Danny "Danno" Williams
Comments: 32
Kudos: 198
Collections: Danny Deserves Better, H50 Writers Club Discord Challenges





	Love Is The Seventh Wave

“Are you serious?” she says, and all eyes in the writer’s room turn towards her. “That’s just cruel. And it makes no sense.”

“It’s dramatic, Lola.”

“Lilla,” she corrects, surprised that the douchebag even came close, given that he hasn’t spoken more than those three words to her since she started working for him a month ago. “Just hear me out. What if instead of having totally out of character bathroom sex with Joanna....”

*****

Danny’s sipping idly at his drink when he notices the woman sitting nearby. She’s pretty, her dark hair a contrast to her light silky blouse, and she’s about as out of place at this bar at ten o’clock in the morning as Danny is. 

She looks up at him, and Danny cracks a smile. “You looking at me?”

The woman shakes her head. “The television’s behind you. And I desperately need a distraction.”

Same here, Danny thinks. “Well, if you’d rather have a live distraction than whatever’s on the news, I’m happy to oblige.”

The woman smiles and moves over to the seat next to him, bringing her coffee with her. “At this point I’m willing to try anything.”

“Buy you a drink? Wine, beer, scotch on the rocks?”

“Nah, I’m good. Not quite desperate enough to drink the hard stuff before noon.” She glances at Danny’s glass.

“Club soda,” he admits, and she grins.

“We’re practically twins.” She sticks out her hand. “I’m Joanna.”

“Danny.” Her hand is soft, but her grip is firm and doesn’t linger. “It’s nice to meet you. So, what do you want to talk about?”

“Oh, anything but my love life.”

A laugh bursts out of Danny. “Get right to the point, do you?”

“No sense wasting time. For all I know, you’re a reporter doing a story on bars that open before noon and you’ll have to dash off to the next one any minute now.”

“No chance. I’m a detective, actually. But I’m taking a personal day.”

She gives him an appraising look. “A cop? But you seem so nice.”

“Ha, ha, ha. Very funny.”

“So,” Joanna says, “why a personal day?”

Danny takes a moment wondering how to answer this – he’s not really sure himself – when his phone rings. It’s Steve, of course, and the fact that hearing his voice makes his whole body light up just adds fuel to the giant dumpster fire that is his life. He hangs up after a few minutes and turns back to Joanna.

“Who was that?”

“My partner.”

Joanna looks at him appraisingly, and then nods. “Yeah, I’ve got one of those.”

“You’re a cop too?”

She snorts. “Um, no, that’s not what I meant. I’m a lawyer, actually.”

Danny’s confused. “So you have, what, law partners?”

Joanna takes a packet of sugar and adds it to the fresh coffee the bartender has set down in front of her. “You’re a little oblivious, aren’t you?”

It’s said with such amusement that Danny isn’t mad, and he’s happy to play along. “Oblivious about what?”

Joanna sighs and takes a careful sip of her drink, then stirs it some more. “You’re telling me that guy you just spoke to is your work partner?”

“Yes, who else would he be?” Danny has his own answer for this, but it’s a fantasy he hasn’t entertained in, oh, at least an hour or so. 

Joanna shrugs noncommittally.

They slip into a more or less comfortable silence, and Danny contemplates his club soda. It’s just as boring as it was when he started it. He’s not even sure why he’s here, at a random bar on the north shore. When he woke up this morning, knowing he had a day free to do anything he wanted, a day off from work and all of its headaches, the first thing he thought of was checking the weather report to see what the waves would be like – because surfing with Steve is one of his favorite things to do to de-stress. But then he realized that Steve didn’t have the day off too, and it all seemed pointless.

A day without obligations is hard to come by for a single working dad, and Danny knows in theory he should be enjoying it. But he’s not.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to push.”

Danny is drawn out of his thoughts by Joanna’s comment. “No, you’re fine, it’s not you.”

Joanna leans back a little and runs a hand through her hair. “Want to know what I’m doing here?”

Danny takes in her flattering outfit, her carefully done make-up. “Waiting for a client meeting?”

She laughs. “Nope. One with my partner.”

“Your law partner,” Danny clarifies.

Joanna laughs again. “Yes. Except that’s the problem.”

“What’s the problem?”

Joanna takes a deep breath. “The truth is, I’d like it if my law partner were a little more than that.”

Danny feels a rush of shame, and looks quickly around the bar – still empty, except for the bartender. “Is this some kind of joke?”

She reaches out and puts a hand on his arm. “Relax. I’m really not pulling your chain. I’m telling the god’s honest truth.” She takes her hand back and swipes at her phone. “Here, see? We go out for drinks every Thursday night, everyone in the office. Thirsty Thursday kind of thing. Last night went on a little longer than usual, since we just got some really good news on a case.”

Joanna shows him a photograph of a tall, blond woman with her arm around Joanna, both of them in business suits and holding glasses of champagne. Several other people are crowded around them. All of them are making happy faces at the camera, except for Joanna, who has eyes only for the woman at her side. 

“Oh,” says Danny.

“Yeah,” says Joanna. “And I’m pretty sure Jasper – he took the picture – sent it and about twenty other equally embarrassing ones to everyone who was there, including my partner.”

“Is that good or bad?” Danny asks.

“I’m not sure. But I’m going to find out.”

“What do you mean?”

Joanna taps her fingers on the bar, clearly a little nervous. “Okay, you’re probably going to think I’m nuts. I went for my usual run this morning, through my neighborhood and down to the beach. It’s the same route I’ve run hundreds of times, and there isn’t much beach there, just some scrubby trees by the water’s edge, but you know any bit of beach is beautiful here, so it’s all good. And this morning, for the first time ever, I saw a honu on that little beach.

“A turtle?”

“Yeah. I’ve never seen one there before, but today there was a honu right there, a really big one.”

“Okay…”

“Honu are a symbol of good luck, right? I’ve realized that if I don’t say something to my partner soon, I’m going to lose my mind, or have to quit my job, or both – and once I saw that honu, I knew I could tell her how I feel. I’m going to do it today.”

“Wow,” Danny said, feeling buoyed by Joanna’s excitement. “You really are?”

“I really am.” Joanna stands up from her chair and straightens her skirt. “I finally realized it’s too important to keep hiding from. The way I feel about her… I think I love her, you know? And I can’t believe I’m telling you all this, maybe it’s easier because I don’t know you…”

“No, I get it,” Danny says, and he does. Sitting in this random, sunny bar, with a woman he’s never met before, with no preconceived assumptions, no rules or requirements, Danny suddenly feels like he’s opening up, too. 

“I just don’t want to let a chance for love pass me by, not any more,” Joanna continues. “Not if we could really be something, and I think maybe we can. So I asked her to meet me at one of our favorite restaurants for lunch, in Haleiwa. Away from the office, somewhere private… and I better go, I don’t want to be late.”

“Of course not,” Danny says, standing too.

Joanna regards him for a long moment, and Danny squirms a little. “I think today is your lucky day, too,” Joanna says.

“Why’s that?”

“Because you met me,” Joanna says, grinning as she leaves. Danny thinks she’s right.

****  
Joanna’s excitement is infectious, and Danny feels himself standing a little straighter as he leaves the bar. Maybe her plan would work for him, too. He hasn’t wanted to say anything to Steve for all the obvious reasons – he doesn’t know if Steve feels the same way despite how close they are, he’s never heard Steve express any interest in men at all, and he doesn’t want to ruin their friendship. But this constant pining is wearing away at him, and he isn’t getting any younger. What if he waits another ten years and then it turns out Steve was up for something more after all – what a waste that would be. Or what if he doesn’t have ten years to make up his mind – what if Steve’s conversation with Eddie’s veterinarian this morning turns into asking her out for a date, and they hit it off and live happily ever after?

There are millions of ways that Danny can miss his chance with Steve, and only one way to find out if he’s still got one.

Danny makes a few stops on his way back to Steve’s place. He texts Tani a few times to keep tabs on the team and make sure he knows when Steve’s heading home. He’s got a caprese salad drizzled with balsamic vinegar on the table and wine opened and breathing on the counter when he hears the front door open.

Steve appears in the doorway to the kitchen, and Danny’s jaw falls open. Steve’s wearing a dark gray button-up shirt, collar open at the neck, and black slacks that hug his ass like his cargoes never quite manage. He even looks freshly shaved.

“Hey, Danno,” Steve says, voice low, and Danny shivers. He takes a step towards Steve but somehow trips over his own feet and the carving knife in his hand goes flying to the ground.

Steve sucks in a breath, and they both stare at the knife, stuck in the floorboards about an inch away from Danny’s bare right toe. “Huh,” says Steve. “Lucky.”

Danny sucks in a breath and shakes his head, trying to grab on to anything at all that makes sense. “Why’re you dressed up?” he finally comes up with, which isn’t particularly witty but is somewhat better than oh my fucking god what is going on here, which is a close second.

Steve smirks. “I’ve got a date.”

Danny’s heart sinks. He’s too late, he’s just one goddamn day too late, this is his life every single time. He was a fool for thinking otherwise.

“With that vet?”

Steve looks determined. “No, not with the vet.” Steve crouches down at his feet and retrieves the knife, then places it in the sink. He’s right up in Danny’s space. “You look nice too,” Steve says, and at first Danny think’s it’s a non sequitur, but then he takes in Steve’s expression, that cocky confidence with an undercurrent of uncertainty, and the way Steve is lining up his own very nicely clad shoulder with Danny’s, and suddenly the clouds part and all is clear.

“Wait,” Danny says. “What do you think… How did you…?”

Steve’s face does something that seems to be a cross between a smirk and a hopeful grin. “Tani said you texted her a few times today.”

“So?”

“She said you were buying wine.”

Danny bites his lip. “Again, so?”

“You never buy wine, unless you’re cooking a fancy meal.”

“I buy wine all the time.”

“When was the last time?”

Danny has to think pretty hard about it, and that’s when he knows he’s losing this particular argument. He still has hope for winning the war, however, so he stops talking about wine.

“Can we go back to the part where you said you had a date? Because you’re not acting like you have a date.”

“No?” Steve asks. “How should I be acting?” Steve somehow moves even closer to Danny, tilting his head, waiting for Danny’s answer.

Danny can feel his heart pounding in his chest, and he thinks he might be getting light headed. 

“Come on, Danny,” Steve says, his breath puffing against Danny’s skin. “How should I be acting?”

Danny just blinks up at him, and then he’s saved from having to come up with an answer by Steve’s lips pressing against his own. Danny thinks he lets out something like a moan as his mouth opens under Steve’s, and he slides his hands up Steve’s back under his ridiculous shirt and pulls him close.

****

“You can’t possibly have known what I was going to do just from Tani telling you I was buying wine.”

Steve flops over onto his back. The sheet is pulled up just over his stupidly attractive hip bones, and Danny sneakily reaches out a finger to slide it back down again.

“Honestly, all I knew was that it seemed like you were getting ready for a date,” Steve says. “And it made me realize that I could lose my chance with you, anytime. You could meet someone, maybe even that woman you were talking to at the bar this morning, and it would be too late for us. So I changed into the spare clothes I keep at the office, and figured I’d give it my best shot.”

Danny pushes up on an elbow. “Have you eaten a radioactive spider lately? Drank some kind of serum?”

“No…”

“Because the mindreading shit is frankly disturbing… I literally – and I mean the actual meaning of literally, not the one the kids are using these days – I literally had that same thought today. That you’d finally get up the nerve to ask out that vet again, or fall in love while buying ammunition, or save some gorgeous lady’s pet parakeet from terrorists, and I’d lose my chance with you.”

Steve turns towards Danny, his face brimming with affection. “I guess today really was our lucky day, then.”

Danny grins into Steve’s kiss. He’s gonna send Joanna a fruit basket. And maybe give a great big donation to whatever organization looks out for the honu, because he owes them, too.

**Author's Note:**

> The title is a lovely song by Sting from his album The Dream Of The Blue Turtles (see, there's a honu connection in there ).
> 
> Thanks to the folks on the discord for suggesting this challenge, it was definitely cathartic to write.
> 
> Hope you all enjoyed it!


End file.
